Newest bar on Little Trendy Street (June 2005). Worryingly brown decor, but the drinks are tasty and the front opens directly onto the pavement for summer.

No

Café BaBa240 Cowley Road
01865 203011

Mon-Fri: 5pm-11pm
Sat-Sun: 10am-11pm

Sister bar to the Kazbar,
this tiny stylish morroccan venue has a lovely tiny courtyard
at the back for summer. Good cocktails at fairly high (ie. cocktailish) prices;
tasty tapas too. Key player in the stealthy trendification creeping up the
Cowley Road of late.

Missing the homeland, or just after an old-fashioned pint at old-fashioned prices (& perhaps a game of darts)? Then the Swan, Irish to the hilt & then some (especially when it comes to the jukebox & the decor - hurling & horseracing posters), is for you. Opposite the Crown House, east Oxford's Irish social club (see Shamrock bar, below), the Swan is not for the faint-hearted - but once adopted by the publicans, you'll find it warm and friendly.

Cheap beer at £1.50 a pint all day Monday to Saturday; other
drinks offers. Pool table, beer garden. 'Oxford's newest gay pub' according
to Queer Oxford.

Lunchtimes

The Brickworks182 Cowley Rd
01865 245999

Mon 12-11pm
Sun 5pm-10.30pm

Tiny bar up steep steps with slightly less crowded downstairs bar (down some more steps). Occasional DJ downstairs. Gets
very packed on weekends. Hoegaarden on tap; tasty cocktails. Former scuzzy ravers' bar revamped a few years ago only to
have become as refreshingly scuzzy and laid-back as ever. Friendly staff. Monthly ladies only night (3rd Tues).

Another of the Cowley Road's ex-Irish Pubs. Now a gigs & comedy venue with a small pub bit stuck on the front.
Venue is capable of attracting some biggish names every so often.

12-3pm daily

The Castle Tavern24 Paradise Street
01865 201510

Mon-Wed: 12-11pm
Thu-Sat: 12pm-2am (downstairs)
Sun: 12-11.30pm

One of the friendliest hubs of Oxford's
gay pubbing scene. Smart basement late bar 'The Rainbow Room' is open
late (last entry 11pm). Serves pub food, snacks
and more (see right), house wine at £6.50 a bottle & double
spirits at £1 more than singles. Check out their fun website: www.castletavernoxford.co.uk

12-3pm daily
+ Sunday roast

The Chequers131 High St (down small alley on left as you approach Carfax)
01865 727463

Once the infamous New Inn, home to rammed house & trance nights and a multitude of dodgy dealings.
Now a be-pined trendy-looking bar. Outdoor on-street seating in a "continental café" vein. 20% student discount 3-8pm and all day Wednesday.>

No

Cricketers Arms43 Iffley Road
01865 726264

Mon-Sat
12-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Narrow, single-bar 1930s pub paying homage to a famous cricketer on its bat-shaped
corner chimney stack. Under new management, it has a fresh, trendy-cocktail-bar
feel, comfy squishy seats, a real fire, pool table, nice staff and occasional live music/party nights.

No

The Duke96 St Clements
01865 438820

tbc

This ace little pub has recently been refurbished with care to make the utmost use of its slim proportions. Sporting clubby tunes and decor, it is
light and airy & has a miniscule beer garden. Also has pool table and table football. Nice real ales on offer.

This long, narrow pub boasts the room where Tolkien and C.S Lewis used to drink for 30 years or so. Small conservatory at rear is available for private functions (though don't touch the undersides of the tables, or you will find out what the stickiness of years of beer drizzle residue does to your trousers).

Mon-Fri 12-8pm
Sat & Sun 12-4pm

The Elm Tree95 Cowley Road
01865 792088

Mon-Thur 12-11pm
Fri & Sat 12-2am
Sun 12-10.30pm

Large, 3-bar pub with pool tables, large tv screen and various live music nights. Squidgy sofas available; some on-street bench seating for summer.

Weekend breakfasts - ask for details

The Exeter Hall1 Oxford Road
01865 776431

tbc

Rather further towards Cowley than
many students ever venture during their time in Oxford, this spacious, friendly venue on the corner of Cowley & Marsh roads has a growing reputation as one of Oxford's best live music venues. Find all the details you could possibly want at www.exeterhall.co.uk.
Upcoming gigs are also to be found in our Gig
listings. Apart from this, the venue has two bars, a pool table and a small back courtyard for summer.

tbc

Far from the Madding CrowdFriar's Entry
01865 240900

Mon-Sat 11am -11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

This reincarnation of the much-loved
spirit of Jericho's Jude the Obscure pub has an arts emphasis, nearly half the venue being exhibition space. Spacious and open, with large glass
frontage. Friendly staff, some live music and even student theatre previews.

The most aesthetically impressive drinking
venue in Oxford, Freud's is a converted church in Jericho. Art installations, soaring classical architecture, daily live music. Very popular on
weekends, so arrive early or be prepared to queue. See our gigs page
for up-to-date listings. Great cocktails and posh snacky grub.

11am until late
7 days a week

The Gardeners' ArmsPlantation Road, Jericho
01865 559814

Mon & Tues: 5-11; Weds-Sun:
12-11

Good real pub with impressive oak-panelled bars, friendly staff,
great beer and the only 100% vegetarian & vegan pub menu in
Oxford. Poetry & music nights. Menus and everything else
you could desire: www.thegarden-oxford.co.uk. Plus a review here.

Cavernous chain pub (cf. Wetherspoons, etc.) with large outdoor seating area & various bargainous food
+ booze deals. The new management painted over the pub's large crazy wall mural which was once the only thing worth looking at in Gloucester
Green. Review here

Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm
Fri & Sat 11am-7pm

The Grapes 7 George Street
01865 793380

Mon-Sat 11am-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Pleasant, characterful small venue occasionally frequented
by actors playing at the Apollo/New Theatre. Refreshingly quiet oasis in the mayhem of George Street boozing. Walls plastered with signed show posters.

Mon-Thur 11.30-3, 6-9
Fri & Sat 11.30-6
Sun 12-8

The Half Moon18 St Clements
01865 247808

Mon-Sat 12-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Tiny Irish pub with lively folk music sessions on Sunday and Wednesday evenings (occasionally attended by current and past stars of the folk world).

No

The Head of the RiverFolly Bridge
01865 721600 / 726158

Mon-Sat 11.30-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Popular outdoor summer venue (right on the river, heatlamps available), much frequented by students. Warning:
may get busy around times of rowing events!! Has 12 hotel rooms if you don't feel up to staggering home.

To 9 or 9.30pm
every day.

The Hobgoblin (1)108 St Aldates
01865 250201

Mon-Sat 11am-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

20% discount for students 2pm-8pm on production of a Bodleian library card. Small, partly covered external courtyard at rear.

12-3pm every day.

The Hobgoblin (2)172 Cowley Road
01865 439496

Mon-Sat 12-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Loud, medium-sized venue popular with (mainly, for some reason, Brookes) students. Often packed. External courtyard at rear, covered by marquee in colder months. Cute stone gargoyles.

12-3pm (ish)

The Holly Bush106 Bridge St, Osney Island
01865 793613

tbc

Spacious, popular pub with occasional live music (Mar 2005). Pool table; small garden at rear for summer. Bar food available. Some rooms too.

Darts and pool available; a regular quiz on Wednesday nights and live music once a month. Dogs and children are allowed, as is smoking. It's 99% wheelchair friendly, and they're working on the other 1%.

Home-cooked meals daily

James Street Tavern47- 48 James St
01865 247127

Mon-Sat 12-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Medium-sized venue with attractively protuberant round bay windows. Outdoor seating under cover at the side
for summer. Pool table (free Mondays); live music (check details); all major sporting events televised. Jukebox.

'The oldest continuous pub in Oxford' (the Bear is older, but was once closed for about 50 years) - parts
of which consist of the old city wall - the Farmers is a popular, gay-friendly
venue. Non-intimidating and lacking 'attitude', it also boasts a partly covered garden and 2 real ales on tap.
Special offers on Draught beers (£1.95 per pint) & various alcopops on Mondays.

Food: 12-3 daily. Sunday roast

Jude the Obscure54 Walton St
01865 557309

Sun-Thurs 12-11pm
Fri & Sat 11am-11pm

Formerly Oxford's only theatre pub.
Now a medium-sized, average pub with outdoor seating in a suntrap courtyard. Sunday roasts.

12-9pm (8.30pm Sun)

Kazbar27 Cowley Rd
01865 202920

Mon-Sat 12-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm

Less packed & sweaty on weekends now due to its recent expansion (early 2004), Kazbar has several attractive
features, including its sangria, tasty tapas, exotic morroccan/spanish feel, guitar on a string weighing the door closed, and amazing loos.
You can't book, veggies are well catered-for and there is disabled access. None of the bar is non-smoking. A good "any drink, 2 tapas &
bread for £5.50" lunchtime deal is available. If it's full you may be able to squeeze into its (smaller!) sister bar, Café BaBa, further up Cowley Road.

During opening hours

The King's Arms Corner of Parks Rd & Holywell St.
01865 242369

Mon-Sat: 10.30am-11pm Sun 10.30am-10.30pm,
booze from 12pm

This spacious, busy venue serves some real ales & caters mainly for the upper end of the student
market. Multi-level, small separate bars (one non-smoking, coffee area). Some comfy sofas; walls adorned with photos of
the pub's favourite visitors, & other interesting paraphernalia. You will inevitably overhear study-related conversation of some kind.

Biggish, longish old place with nooks and crannies of seating, opposite Eagle & Child.

12-3pm

Merton's Bar
73 High Street
01865 249065

Mon-Sat 11am-2am,
Sun 11am-11pm

Restaurant & late bar. Probably due to its location (in a small nightspot desert between the start of east Oxford and the end of the town centre), queues at the weekend are a certainty, as is an entrance fee. Drinks are expensive and service slow. However, on balance, it is a remarkably civilised place to procure a late night drink, especially if you can bag the sofa.

tbc

The MitreHigh St
01865 244563

Mon-Sat 10.30am -11pm, Sun 11am-10.30pm
(Booze from 12pm)

Spacious Beefeater pubstaurant with several separate seating areas. Host to several college society meetings.

Former Blackwell's bookshop with attractive central basement-to-ceiling glass 'chimney' open to the elements in
Wadham college. New website available soon at www.holywells.net.
More on our Restaurants page.

Yes

The Osney Arms45 Botley Rd
01865 247103

Mon-Fri 11-2.30 & 6-11, Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12-3, 7-10.30pm

Small venue whose punters are very keen on pool.

Bar meals, lunchtime to 2, evening 6-8.30pm

The Oxford Blue32 Marston Street
01865 723898

tbc

Under new management for the last year - we haven't got there yet - your reviews invited! Various special food/drinks/pool, rugby on the big screen, etc.

Food served 12-8pm 'most days'; roasts on Sun

The Perch (Binsey Village)
01865 728891 / 728893

Mon-Fri: 11.30-2.30, 6-11pm
Sat: 11.30am-11pm
Sun 12-10.30pm

Old pub with large grassy outdoor seating area (playground, giant chess set, barbecue). Very popular in summer,
when it now has occasional jazz BBQs. Keep your eye on our Gigs listings section to spot these. Good stop for a warming brew whilst
on a bracing winter walk by the canal, Port Meadow or to Binsey. Recently saved from unnecessary conversion into a "Vintage Inn".

Private members' establishment directly related to the television show, 'Quite Interesting', which non-members can access various parts of (has a bookshop, does food, etc.). Further details are obscure. Designed to be a spot where Oxford's intellectual glitterati can meet for intelligent conversation without feeling oppressed by fashion. Peculiar talkboard at www.qi.com

Pleasant, old-fashioned venue with good food at reasonable prices (hence lots of business lunchers to be spotted). Lots of interior nooks and crannies supplemented
by a heated & covered all-year-round courtyard, popular (and leafy, mediterranean-feeling, and uncovered) in summer.
Chess club; 'cottage' at rear available for hire for meetings, watching televised sports events, etc.

Founder Danny Bourke informs us that all profits made by the bar are donated to good causes. The bar is youth-orientated, and is a
real Irish social club (nothing 'themed' about it). Live music. Membership is £10 but you can be signed in free if you mention Daily Info.

No, but there's a bbq in the large garden on which you're welcome to cook your own food.

Temple Bar21 Temple Street, off Cowley Rd
01865 243251

Mon-Sat 12-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm

One of the first East Oxford venues to be treated to the pine refurb treatment (it must come to us all in
the end). Attractive red pool tables. Popular student venue. DJs on Friday & Saturday nights; all major sporting events televised.

12-8pm every day.

The Three Goats HeadsSt Michaels' St
01865 721523

Mon-Sat 11.30am-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm

Interesting split-level pub with an older clientele than the local student crowd. Its most interesting feature is its beer from a Yorkshire micro-brewery.

Rambling riverside pub in the attractive village of Wolvercote, an hour's walk across Port
Meadow (or a 10-minute drive from Oxford centre, up Woodstock Road and turn left). Ruined Godstow nunnery
luks picturesquely over the river. Famous for its peacocks, braziers for roasting chestnuts
in autumn (has extensive outdoor seating with heatlamps) and bridge joining its terrace to a garden on the other
side of the river. VERY popular in summer, especially with students
taking visiting parents. Good food. Non-dining children must stay in the garden.

12-9pm every day.
Can seat 284 people inside and out, but still gets very full

Old pub with two busy bars and 3 outdoor
courtyards. Numbered among drunken poet Dylan Thomas' haunts when in
Oxford. Serves real ales and has friendly staff. Heatlamps and braziers
in winter; popular all year round, it is often packed in summer, particularly
with celebrating finalists. Occasional live music in rear courtyard.

Food 12pm-7.30pm daily
Selection of pub favourites, occasional bbq.

The VictoriaWalton Street, Jericho01865 554047

Mon-Sat 12-11pm
Sunday 11-10:30pm

Old Jericho favorite - has changed hands regularly over the last 10 years and now seems to be a lot more open to newcomers than it has been in previous incarnations. Recently refurbished. New terrace area out the front. Regular open mic nights.

Home cooked organic food.
Served weekdays
12-2:30pm, 6-9pm

Weekends 12-6pm

The Victoria ArmsMill Lane, Old Marston
01865 241382

Mon-Sat 11.30am-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm

Old riverside pub in rural location, popular as a halt for
walkers and people in boats and punts. Big garden rolling down to riverbank. Quizzes and live music. Often packed during summer.

12 - 2.30pm (Sun 3.30). Sunday lunch & jazz. No live music on Sat now, and no carvery.

The Wheatsheaf Off High Street
01865 721156

Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm

Split-level pub whose upstairs bar/function room is one of Oxford's top live music venues.

From opening to 7ish, every day

The White Horse52, Broad Street
01865 728318

Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12pm-10.30pm
Bank Hols vary

Tiny, popular, characterful pub in the heart of town.

Available Mo-Fri 12pm-8pm, weekends 12pm-4pm

The White House
2 Botley Road
01865 242823

11am-11pm

Sizeable venue (once the toll house for this western approach to the city) with good pool table and two separate bars (one restaurant-side).
Proximity to the station makes for a high proportion of drunkards for such a relatively smart
venue with a decent menu. Outdoor seating in excellent walled, grassy
garden (a rare and valuable thing so near to the centre of Oxford).

Near the Bladon Gate entrance to Blenheim Palace & opposite
the churchyard where Sir Winston Churchills grave is to be found.
Recent winner of the Best Village Pub Award, the pub has traditional
British food at reasonable prices. The pub's decor & real ales are amongst its notable features.

Mo-Sa:
12-2.30pm & 6-9pmSun: 12-8pm

Copa9-13 George Street
01865 246906

Mon-Thur 11am-11pm
Fri & Sat 11am-12 am
Sun 12-10.30pm

Formerly the dreaded Wig and Pen, this large, two-floor, glass-fronted venue has enormous TV screens showing
all major sporting events & enormous bouncers who presumably are there to check you have the right kind of shoes on. Popular with young
local townsfolk. Can get VERY full on weekend nights. DJ Fri & Sat; various drinks and food promos.